'A LOT WENT ON IN THAT MATCH': DEMON OVERCOMES CHAOTIC SCENES TO REACH ROUND FOUR IN ROME

Alex de Minaur has booked his place in the Rome fourth round for the second straight year, with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Bolivian Hugo Dellien.

But while the scoreline sounds routine, the match itself was far from it.

Up first on a beautiful morning in the Foro Italico, de Minaur snatched an early break over his lucky-loser opponent, leading 4-3, before the match was brought to a halt.

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In an important moment at 30-all, fans began to yell out mid-point from the crowd, after a gentleman had collapsed behind the court, causing play to stop.

On the shadeless Grandstand Arena in Rome, the match, clearly the second priority, was suspended as the man received assistance from fans and, ultimately, medical staff before being taken from the court.

After a 20-minute delay, players undertook a three-minute re-warm-up and were all set to resume play, before a series of fighter jets flew over the Foro Italico spraying Italian-coloured smoke.

The show, of which players were not made aware, involved planes flying not once but multiple times back and forth, making serious noise, halting play once again.

Upon the resumption of play, de Minaur's momentum was affected, seeing him broken from 30-all to bring the opening set level.

"There was definitely a lot that went on that match, and I probably didn't handle it as well as I would have liked, obviously getting broken and losing the next two points after that long delay," de Minaur told The First Serve post-match.

The Aussie No.1 then responded to break Dellien's serve once again and close out the first set, en route to a straight-sets victory.

"I was happy with the way I kind of bounced back and managed to get through a tricky match," the 26-year-old said.

"I played some good stuff. I played some not-so-good stuff, but ultimately it's getting the win that counts and moving on to the next round."

Against an opponent who almost exclusively plays on clay (100 of his last 101 events outside Grand Slams and the Olympics), de Minaur knew he couldn't take lucky loser Dellien (ranked #103) lightly.

"Ultimately, [he's] playing with nothing to lose and a lot of confidence," he said.

"He's a dirt baller, that makes life very tricky. So, I knew from the very start that I had to be on my game, and I'm glad that I was able to start really well, and in important moments, just sneak through today."

The victory saw De Minaur become the only man to reach the fourth round at all five Masters 1000 events in 2025, and it's also now 11 straight big events (Grand Slams / Masters) where he has advanced to the last 16.

As he continually seeks to push deeper into these events, de Minaur will now face American Tommy Paul in the fourth round, over whom he holds a 5-0 head-to-head on tour (but suffered a 6-0, 6-0 defeat to him in juniors).

"Every time we play each other, it's a completely new match. We're both a lot better than the last time that we played each other (2023), so it's going to be a battle," the Australian said.

"We're similar players. We're both great athletes, so it should be a physical matchup...and I'm looking forward to it."

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